From: Larry Kaufman WIZARD NET> Date: 15 sep 2000 Subject: Re: This week in Shukan Shogi (no.857, September 13th 2000) At 11:50 AM 9/15/00 +0900, you wrote: >Black: Habu Yoshiharu, Oi >White: Tanigawa Koji, Challenger >41st Oi-sen, Game 5, September 4th and 5th 2000 >1.P7g-7f 1/1 0/0 >2.P3c-3d 0/1 1/1 >3.P2g-2f 3/4 0/1 >4.P4c-4d 0/4 4/5 >5.P2f-2e 4/8 0/5 >6.B2b-3c 0/8 0/5 >7.S3i-4h 1/9 0/5 >8.R8b-4b 0/9 6/11 >9.K5i-6h 5/14 0/11 >10.S3a-3b 0/14 6/17 >11.K6h-7h 3/17 0/17 >12.S7a-7b 0/17 8/25 >13.P5g-5f 4/21 0/25 >14.P9c-9d 0/21 27/52 >15.B8h-6f 37/58 0/52 >16.S3b-4c 0/58 30/82 >17.B6f-5g 5/63 0/82 >18.R4b-2b 0/63 7/89 >19.G4i-5h 6/69 0/89 >20.K5a-6b 0/69 12/101 >21.P6g-6f 29/98 0/101 >22.K6b-7a 0/98 8/109 >23.P3g-3f 5/103 0/109 >24.K7a-8b 0/103 12/121 >25.N2i-3g 19/122 0/121 >26.S4c-5d 0/122 36/157 >27.G5h-6g 12/134 0/157 >28.P6c-6d 0/134 10/167 >29.N8i-7g 7/141 0/167 >30.P9d-9e 0/141 14/181 >31.K7h-8i 50/191 0/181 >32.G4a-5b 0/191 18/199 >33.G6i-7h 1/192 0/199 >34.P8c-8d 0/192 18/217 >35.P1g-1f 20/212 0/217 >36.P1c-1d 0/212 11/228 >37.P6f-6e? 24/236 0/228 > >This is asking a little much of the position. From now on, it is white >who >is dictating the pace. > >38.P6dx6e 0/236 30/258 >39.B5gx8d 0/236 0/258 >40.P4d-4e 0/236 0/258 >41.B8d-5g 16/252 0/258 >42.G5b-6c 0/252 2/260 >43.S4h-5i 27/279 0/260 >44.R2b-6b 0/279 50/310 > >White has a strong attacking base on 6e and the capture of his pawn on >8d >also helps, as white can drop a pawn later on either 8f or 8h. > > >Reijer Grimbergen Can any strong player explain how the world's greatest player, who is in exceptionally good form lately, could play such an obviously bad move as move 37? If I didn't know who played the game, I would have judged the player to be 15 kyu from this move. As the commentator implies, this pawn exchange is ridiculous. Normally when a top pro makes an error, it is because he missed some key move in one variation. But in this one instance, I cannot imagine how Habu could possibly have justified the move in his head. Any ideas? Perhaps he didn't like the alternatives, but surely they are not so bad. Larry Kaufman